1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface mount process, a surface mount system, and a feeding apparatus thereof. Particularly, the present invention relates to a surface mount process, a surface mount system, and a feeding apparatus utilized in the surface mount process.
2. Description of the Related Art
SMT (surface mount technology) is a type of manufacturing process for fixing electronic components onto the surface of printed circuit boards (PCBs). Surface mount technologies have properties that include having high component density, high reliability, strong anti-vibration, preferable characteristics in high frequency, and being automation friendly. Surface mount technology is a substitute for traditional through hole technology (THT), and the manufacturing processes of through hole technology are consequently being replaced by surface-mount technology manufacturing processes as surface-mount technologies are more gradually extensively employed in the manufacturing processes of electronic products. The supplying of components occurs at the front-end manufacturing in the SMT manufacturing process and is a core factor that greatly affects the manufacturing yield, the production time, and the manufacturing cost. Conventional methods entail first packaging the scattered electronic components into a tape reel or a tray, and then supplying the packaged component to a surface mount apparatus.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a conventional component mounting process. As shown in FIG. 1, step 1 includes packaging the electronic components in a tape reel. The scattered electronic components can be independently placed and predeterminedly gapped on a long tape, and then reeled into a roll—much like the magnetic strip of a cassette player gets reeled up into a roll—for easier loading and transporting. Step 2 includes loading the tape reel to a feeder. Step 3 includes allowing the feeder to output the tape to a surface mount apparatus. The curved tape is inputted after expansion to the surface mount apparatus at a predetermined speed. Step 4 includes allowing the surface mount apparatus to pick out the electronic components from the tape, and then to perform mounting of the electronic components. The electronic components on the tape are picked up through suction or any other viable methods, and then mounted to a circuit board with tin paste or other materials.
However, on one hand the tape and reel packaging of the components demands additional costs for the packaging material, on the other hand also requires additional packaging time. Moreover, the propensity for failure to occur during the surface mounting process, such as failure of the suction nozzles or identification of components during the pick-and-place process, remains high and the surface mount apparatus will consequently fail to mount the components onto the printed circuit board. At this point in time, the components may either be remounted by performing steps 1 to 4 once again or remounted using manual labor. The opportunity cost of utilizing the former method is additional time and costs required to remount one component while the opportunity cost of the latter method is higher defective rates.